The Unlikely Four
by Baxter Caldwell
Summary: A man of the sea, a boy of the forest, a girl of dreams, and a woman of the ranch. They were not the heroes of their stories, nor were they ever meant to be. They know not of each other, nor of the worlds from which they each hail from. Yet here they stand, faced with the fate of a multitude of worlds in their hands and the forgotten Duke who seeks to rule them.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: Introductions**

The Kokiri were in disarray. Their guardian, the Great Deku Tree, fell victim to some horrid disease and was now gone. Hyrule's gallery of monsters was slowly encroaching on the Kokiri village's territory. No guardian, and new dangers around every corner. Don't be mistaken, there was no rioting or chaos amongst the population. However, dread was spread throughout like the very same plague that took their guardian.

The pressure drove Mido nuts.

With the Great Deku Tree gone, the Kokiri had turned to him as a de-facto leader. After all, that's what he called himself.

"What are we to do?"

"Should we start arming ourselves?"

"What happened to the Great Deku Tree?"

"What's going on Mido?"

He could hear every one of these questions and more as he paced back and forth in his tree house. How was he supposed to know what to do? He was just as clueless as the rest of them were and yet they thought they could dump all this responsibility onto him. The small voice in the back of his head telling him that he brought it upon himself was drowned out by the stress fueled rage he felt at his brethren. ' _A nice walk in the woods could do me some good._ ' He thought to himself, stopping his pacing to do so. "Yeah." He said to no one in particular. "I'll do just that." Within minutes he was stomping through Kokiri Forest in the direction of the lost woods, hoping that some time away from the village would help him cool down some. None of his fellow forest children even bothered to look in his direction as he entered the tunnel that lead there, each knowing full well that it was best just to leave the boy alone until he returned.

The sounds of the forest surrounded Mido. The chirping of crickets and the scurrying of smaller animals would be the boy's personal symphony for the time being. It was here where his mind began to wander to more pleasant thoughts. ' _Now I see why Saria enjoyed these so much._ ' He thought with a slight smile. Despite her dislike of him and his cocky nature he couldn't help but be infatuated with her. Her beautiful green hair and her perfect smile could brighten anyone's day, even in these trying times they were facing. Mido happily sighed before taking a few extra minutes of time in the woods to cool down. With his demeanor at least a bit calmer he began to turn back towards the village when a bright light caught his eye. A sphere of light, not much larger than a deku nut, was floating in the middle of a clearing by Mido. At first glance one could possibly mistake it for a fairy, but the cold stillness the object projected would cast such assumptions off after a minute of observation. Mido grew curious and began to walk to the light in hopes of getting a better look at it. With this attempt garnering no further information on the entity, Mido reached out and stuck a finger into the pulsating bulb. He found it had a consistency not unlike water, allowing his finger to slip right through it. It was then that the light began to shine brighter, and before Mido could even think to react the sphere expanded at a tremendous rate, swallowing the boy and the forest around him within mere seconds.

* * *

She was worried like nothing else. How could she not be? The love of her life had gone to wake the Windfish while all she could do was stand here worrying in the village square. Tarin, her father, had tried to reassure her. Link was a very "capable lad" as he put it. Yet she couldn't bring herself to just let go of this sinking feeling in her gut.

' _He'll be fine._ ' She thought to herself. ' _He'll wake the Windfish, make his wish, and then he'll be back. After all…._ '

"...I promised I'd take you to see Hyrule didn't I?" His words flowed through her head and she felt a blush creep onto her cheeks at the image of his face. Even as he was leaving to go on a dangerous quest he still found ways to make her heart flutter.

' _That's why…._ ' The fact that she had to steel herself for the mere thought of it reminded her of just how little experience she had with the emotion. ' _That's why, when he comes back, I'll tell him that…..that…._ ' Her face scrunched in annoyance at how difficult this was for her. "That I love him." She whispered out. A sigh escaped her lips as she released a breath she didn't even realize she'd been holding in. This was the last thing she needed right now, more stress on top of the worries she had about Link's fate. With nothing else to do, Marin began to sing the Ballad of the Windfish. It was the closest thing to a relief from the stress that she had. The notes carried through the village's salty sea air, and she could see the smaller animals begin to gather around her. She closed her eyes as she lost herself in the music.

Her shut eyelids however, made her not privy to the not one, but two streams of light that began to engulf the island. One stemmed from the egg of the Windfish, and unbeknownst to Marin signified the being's waking and the simultaneous demise of the dream world it had created in its slumber. The other however, was faster. It stemmed from an unknown point of origin, yet seemed to be trying its best to beat the other sphere of light in a competition to see who could engulf more of the island first. The latter got to the red haired girl faster, and in a second she was engulfed in the light's hungry embrace.

* * *

The crow of a cuckoo brought Cremia out of her sleep. She smacked her lips and stretched her arms in a vain attempt to try and delay the inevitable task of getting out of bed and starting the day. Within a minute she resigned herself to her fate and climbed out of her bed. She went through the motions of the morning in an automatic fashion, the sleep never truly leaving her eyes as she got dressed, made breakfast, and walked out of the door to her and her sister's farmhouse.

No, it was the sight of the moon in the sky that jolted Cremia from her morning daze.

' _Is that a...face?_ ' She asked herself with wide eyes as she stared at the celestial rock's unnerving new visage. And worse yet, as she stared at it for a few minutes she noticed something else. ' _Is that thing, moving?_ ' Before she could mull that detail over her dress was being tugged by her little sister's hand.

"Sis?" Romani asked as she looked up at her older sibling. This snapped Cremia's attention away from the moon.

"W-what is it Romani?" She asked, trying to not let her frazzled demeanor show through.

"Could Romani take the day to begin practicing?" The little sibling inquired, having thankfully been oblivious to her older counterpart's current emotional state.

"Practicing for what?" Cremia asked, genuinely curious as to what her sister was talking about.

"For when **They** come silly!" Romani responded with a giggle. Cremia felt a small smile creep onto her face as she remembered what Romani was talking about. Every year around this time, cows would go missing from the ranch. Cremia knew it had to be bandits of some kind, perhaps the nasty Gorman brothers that their ranch competed with. But Romani insisted that the cows were stolen by some strange creatures that flew down in a "ball of light" as the little one had called it. She had even gone so far as to try and take up archery to "defend" the ranch from "them". Usually Cremia would say no to the girl. After all there was too much work to do on the ranch and with their parents' passing there were even less hands to do it with. But the pleading puppy dog eyes that came from Romani's gentle face struck a chord with Cremia. Her little sister was after all, still little. She deserved some free time every once in awhile, even at times like these.

"Sure." Cremia said. With a cheer and a hasty thank you Romani had rushed back into the house, no doubt prepping her bow and some balloons for target practice. The elder girl couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy at the young one's ability to be so carefree and constantly joyful. Oh how Cremia longed for the days when she could still live that way. With a wistful sigh she opened the door to the barn, only to be greeted with a small sphere of light floating in front of one of the cows. She gasped a bit at the unfamiliar fixture, but calmed under the assumption that it was just a fairy that had lost its way. "Hello." Cremia tried, hoping to elicit a reaction. "Have you lost your way?"

Stillness was her only reply.

"I think there's a fairy fountain in North Clock Town if you're looking for some help. I can't imagine I'd be of much assistance in fairy problems. Heh heh." Cremia chuckled.

The further stillness began to irk the ranch woman.

"Look, if you're not gonna talk could you at least get out of the way. This IS a ranch and I have work to do." She huffed out in slight annoyance.

Stillness.

"Fine then. Be that way." She stated as she began to walk towards the light in the hopes of knocking it out of the way so she could work. But where she expected to hear a bump and a gasp as she hit the light, she felt nor heard nothing. Turning back around she realized that she had walked straight through the object, and that made her all the more wary of the strange light's origins. "What even is this?" She asked herself as she leaned into it, only to be gifted with a sudden flash of light that engulfed everything around her.

* * *

Another thud rang out through the dark woods as the drunkard stumbled into another tree for what felt like the fiftieth time that night. Groaning to himself he pushed off of the bark and began to trek further down the path, barely able to walk in a straight line. If anyone had seen the man they would have felt boundless amounts of pity for him, and he was well aware of this fact. He hated it. He didn't need their pity. He was Linebeck! A true man of the sea! He was a lone wolf, a self made man who didn't need anyone's help. Especially not some good for nothing, annoying, sparkling, fai-

SMACK

He slapped himself. He had let his thoughts go too far again. He thought that he had finally drank enough alcohol that night to halt them, but it seemed that hadn't been the case. Reaching into the inner part of his coat he found his trusty flask. A quick shake revealed that it still had some goods left in it. ' _Good._ ' He drunkenly smirked to himself. ' _Those lousy bartenders may be able to stop me from drinking their stuff, but ol' Linebeck's a resourceful one!_ ' He took a triumphant swig from the flask, only to fall flat on his ass and let out a groan of pain. ' _Yeah, don't even need them. All I need is me._ ' He kept his mental tirade going as he sat there in the dirt. Somewhere deep down there was a voice telling him that he shouldn't be doing this, that he was better than this. That _they_ wouldn't have wanted this, that _she_ wouldn't have wanted this. But that voice didn't know any better. It didn't mind the pain he felt on the rare mornings that he woke up on his ship sober, when he could fully relish in the glory of his loneliness.

And so he emptied his flask of the last drop. He tossed it away after that, his foggy thoughts keeping him from rationalizing that he'd have to get a new one by doing so. He took this time to look at his surroundings. Dark trees for as far as he could se-

Wait.

Further down the road.

A sphere of light floated in the center of the road through the woods. Being the only bright object in the vicinity, it caught Linebeck's attention. Maybe it was the copious amount of alcohol he drank, or the aching denial he had for the reality of his situation, but he could have sworn he had seen it before.

"Ci-Ciela?" Linebeck choked out. He stumbled to his feet and began to make his way towards the light. "Ciela?" He asked again. When no response came, he felt rage take hold of his being. "After all we've been through. After all the time that I spent…" He couldn't finish the statement out of fear that what little pride he had left would shatter like glass. "You can't even bring yourself to talk to me?" Silence was the only response to his inquiries. Having not yet realized that he was essentially talking to himself in a one sided shouting match, Linebeck felt his blood boil even more. "You know what? Fine! I don't need your pity! I can look after myself! Now go shove off! Good riddance!" He turned and stomped to the best of his ability back the way he came. His last retort did nothing but bring up memories of their last encounter, and the guilt that came with it. Yet he wouldn't apologize. No, that wasn't what Linebeck did. He wouldn't so much as turn to face that bitch again. Not even as her light got brighter and brighter….

' _Wait...Ciela couldn't…_ ' Before he could turn around to right this case of mistaken identity he was engulfed in an expanding sphere of light that took mere seconds to swallow up the island itself.

* * *

The man smiled as he watched his prizes surround him. Entire realms of time and space were now his to command. Every second of everything that ever is, was, will be, and could have been was at his fingertips. He was now in a word, a god. There was nothing the goddesses of any of these realms could have done to stop him. At least not directly. You see, his newfound omnipotence made him well aware of a few of the goddesses' incarnations' trickery. Thinking that if they spread those pathetic medallions that some hero would come along and play savior once again. But he would have none of that. Every part of each of these realms had been whisked away to his control immediately, including their heroes. There was now no one who could stop him, and he had made sure of that….

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **This was a strange concept that developed from a question of mine. "How could I get one character from each section of the timeline into a single adventure?" So I put together a quick outline, wrote out a chapter, and badda-bing-badda-boom here we are. Reviews and criticisms will be very much appreciated.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: The First Steps**

Marin felt like she was being pulled in all directions. She was twisted and turned, flung to and fro every which way in the never ending sea of blank white light around her. It didn't take long at all for her to get disoriented. There was no up, down, left, or right anymore. Just light. So much light. But then came what felt almost like a tug on her back, and suddenly Marin found herself smacking into hard ground with a resounding thud. "Ow…." She groaned out, her eyes taking their time to adjust to her new surroundings. "Where….where am I?" She thought aloud. Her head was still swimming from the impact, and her….peculiar location wasn't doing any favors.

Whereas she had previously been in a realm of blinding white, this place was a field of darkened hues. Dark greys, blackened blues, and shadowy purples were the palette of choice for this realm. They also seemed to be constantly shifting, making the world look almost alive. Marin had never seen anything like it before, and the only thing keeping her from letting out a petrified scream was that her mind was still coming to grips with what was going on. As she began to process everything, she heard a voice echo in the vastness of the field.

"Helloooooooo! Anybody there?! Anybody?!" The voice was male and seemed to come from her left. Marin was about to call out a response when she stopped herself.

' _What if it's one of those monsters?_ ' She thought, recalling the infestation on Koholint. ' _I can't defend myself from those! This is such a nightmare…._ ' She pondered her last words a bit more. ' _...yeah. That's it! This is all just a nightmare! I fainted from fretting about Link too much. Just a few more minutes and I'll wake up in my house and Link'll be sitting at my bedside waiting so that we can go to Hyrule together now that he can leave and there I can confess that I lo-_ ' Having been so caught up in her mental ramblings Marin failed to notice the other voice's point of origin slowly walk up to her until they put their hand on her left shoulder. The startled girl let out a shriek in response and felt the hand recoil to its owner. She refused to turn around out of fear, and such fear left her literally shaking in her boots as she stood there.

"Jeez flower girl! I was just trying to get your attention! I called out but you just stood there mumbling to yourself!"

The voice's harsh tone did nothing to alleviate Marin's fears, and as such the girl kept her head staring at the ground with the ever so slight hope that if she just ignored it, the monster would go away. This ground-based view only gave her a glimpse of her newfound companion's leather boots as they walked in front of her.

"What's the matter with you? At least look me in the eyes when I'm talking to you! Are you deaf or somethin'?"

Feeling she was left with no choice, Marin slowly tilted her head up to look at the voice's owner and found what appeared to be an adult man. His blue coat and red ascot were stained with a liquid of some kind, a quick whiff revealing it to simply be salt water. His aqua blue vest gave the impression of a man whose dress held "impressions on others" above practicality. But it was his face that gave the most away. Unkempt and greasy hair topped a long face with tired eyes, the red nose of a man who always kept drink at hand, scraggly facial hair, and a scowl directed at Marin. This was a weathered man who's already thin patience was being tested by the girl's silence. With a few more moments of preparation, Marin croaked out a quiet "...no…."

"Good." The man replied in a gravelly huff. "What's your name flower girl?"

"M-Marin." The girl stuttered.

"Marin huh? Not the weirdest name I've heard, but still up there." The man said, placing a hand to his chin. He seemed to lose himself to thought for a moment before shaking his head and slightly puffing his chest out while placing his hands on his hips in a stance that oozed with self pride. "The name's Linebeck! A true man of the sea! No one's sailed any water in any realm better than I! Pretty impressive if I do say so myself." The man proclaimed.

Marin's eyes widened at that. ' _A seafarer? He's a seafarer? Then he must know Link!_ ' She reasoned. "Do you….know Link by any chance?" She asked. The man seemed to still in his movements for a moment, only to then reach out and latch onto the girl's collar.

"Do I know him? Of course I know the kid! He and I sailed the realm of the Ocean King together! I couldn't ask for a better treasure dog at my side!" Linebeck shook her back and forth in his excitement over his recollections. The smile on his face broke however, and he calmed down to a more somber state. "But then he had to go off and sail to that _New Hyrule_ with that Tetra girl. And leave me all alone…" The man was now lost in his own thoughts, only to seemingly realize just what he had said a few moments later. "Not that that matters! I can make do without him. Why do you ask anyway? You from New Hyrule or something?"

"I'm from Koholint Island." Marin responded in confusion. "And wasn't where Link's from just called Hyrule? And just who is Tetra?" She inquired.

"Ummm….no. According to Link the last place to be called Hyrule is at the bottom of the Great Sea flower girl. He said the Goddesses flooded it ages ago." Linebeck responded with equal confusion. "And Tetra? Well I don't know too much about her. All I can say is that she's somehow royalty and that the kid was nuts for her. Can't say why though, s'far as I can tell she's just some nagging bitch who-"

But Marin had checked out of the conversation by that point. A blank expression took her face as the man's words played on repeat in her head.

" _Kid was nuts for her."_

" _Kid was nuts for her."_

" _Kid was nuts for her."_

' _Link's in love with….this Tetra?_ ' Marin thought with envious horror. ' _But he….but we…._ ' A smack to the back of her head caught her attention.

"I asked are ya ready to get moving now? If the two of us are here there might be others, and they might just know how to get out of here." Linebeck said, annoyance lacing his every word. "Come on, let's get going." He demanded as he grabbed Marin's wrist to pull her along. Normally the girl would have objected to such treatment. But for now she was content to be guided along as she stewed in her own bewilderment and horror at this sudden revelation.

* * *

Cremia groaned as she pulled her face off of the ground. Her landing would have seemed almost comical to any bystanders, materialising out of thin air only to splat face first into the ground. Yet obviously the rancher found no joy in her current predicament, and as soon as she got a handle on it she was off to try and fix it. "Hello? Anybody there?" She cried out into the darkened fields. "Somebody! Anybody! Hello?" She yelled as she trudged around her new surroundings. She herself would seem oddly calm to most people, but Cremia had seen worse before. After all, nothing could quite top that night when she was 15 that she chugged three whole bottles of Chateau Romani. ' _So…..many…..talking frogs…_ ' Cremia shivered at the memory before resuming her search. It continued like this for what seemed like hours to the rancher. Just aimless marching and yelling her throat dry. It wasn't like she was about to give up or anything, but she was nevertheless relieved to finally get a response from the pulsating darkness.

"Thank the Deku Tree! Someone else!" Was shouted from what sounded like a rather far distance to Cremia's right. But as they say, beggars can't be choosers. So Cremia took off after the voice, running over a series of hills in the empty landscape before being greeted by the voice's owner.

' _A kid?_ ' She thought to herself while she approached her newfound companion.

"About time, I thought you'd never show up." The green clothed boy complained as he placed his hands on his hips in a haughty manner. His pointed cap and….uncomfortably short shorts reminded Cremia of the tales her mother used to tell her as a child about fairies and children of the forest. They were always told to be bright, cheerful, if a bit air head-

"Helloooooooo? What's with the staring?"

Cremia's thoughtful expression almost immediately dropped into a frown. ' _Clearly this forest child didn't get the memo._ ' She thought as she scowled at the young looking boy. "Weren't you told how rude it is to interrupt a lady while she's thinking?" Cremia inquired of the lad, sneaking into her question what she thought to be a "dignified" voice to add some weight to her words.

"Look lady, all I want to do is get out of here. If you aren't gonna help then get lost." The boy snarked before turning to leave. He was stopped by a forceful tug from Cremia on his arm.

"Now wait just a second mister." Cremia attempted to apply what little she knew about dealing with young kids from her experiences with Romani and people watching in Clock Town. "Just who do you think you are? Acting so high and mighty isn-"

"Who am I? Why I'm Mido! Leader of the Kokiri!" He interrupted with a pride ridden flourish of his arms. Cremia's scowl deepened further at being interrupted yet again.

"I'd very much appreciate it if you would stop interr-" The ranch girl started.

"Ah, there you are. I thought I'd never-" The newcomer paused to guard themselves against a pissed off Cremia's punch towards their face. Now, Cremia fancied herself to be a rather strong woman. She was no Goron, but years of working on a ranch certainly gave her enough strength for a mean left hook. So you can imagine the surprise that filled her (and to a lesser extent Mido) as what appeared to be an old man grabbed her fist and stopped it dead in its tracks without giving any sign of effort towards the task. "Now now my dear, weren't you just chastising this young lad for being so brash? One should practice what they preach." The old man said with a wink. He let go of the girl's shaking fist, allowing her to back away towards Mido.

The old man's appearance could best be described as well, an old man. Yes, he was bald, had a long white beard, and was garbed in simple red robes, but aside from that he carried no distinguishing features. Almost as though he were a caricature of what an old man was.

"Who are you?" Mido got the chance to ask as Cremia studied the new face.

"All shall be answered my boy, but first….." The man trailed off as he closed his eyes in deep concentration. "Hmmm…..no…..no…..n-wait…..ah! There they are!" He exclaimed without opening his eyes. A moment later a bright flash blinded Cremia and Mido, only to be replaced in a second with two new faces to add to this unorthodox motley crew.

"-ot again! Not again!" One of them, a girl with a pretty red flower in her hair, exclaimed with eyes shut tight while holding tightly onto her companion in what looked to be a bear hug.

"Ow! Let go flower girl! It's over! We aren't teleporting anymore, see!?" Yelled the other one, a tall man who seemed to be in the sailing business, as he tried to pry the girl off of him. She slowly loosened her grip and opened her eyes to inspect the man's claims. When she could verify their veracity, she let go of him and took notice of Cremia, Mido, and the old man. She seemed to tense up, and her lips took to a locked position. Fortunately (or unfortunately depending on the point of view) her companion was more than willing to do enough talking for the both of them. "Oh great, more people." The man said gruffly. "I suppose none of you know how to get out of here either?" Cremia and Mido both responded with solid shakes of the head, but the old man finally got around to opening his own eyes and smiled.

"Ah, sorry for the slight delay. I don't have to use this magic all that often you see, and I'm a bit ashamed to admit that I may have been slacking in my exercises lately." The old man chuckled as though he were revealing something scandalous to close friends, which did nothing more than confuse the four other people who were with him. "But now we're all here, so work can begin! Follow me, let's go for a walk while I exposit your situation for a bit." The man turned and began to walk away.

The four's confusion was now at its peak, and all any of them could do at the moment was follow the old man with their eyes as they tried to process what exactly was going on. Of all people, Mido was the first to snap out of it.

"Hey! Hey wait!" He shouted as he started sprinting after the elderly man. He was soon followed by a determined Cremia, and Linebeck dragging Marin along to get her to keep pace with the rest of them. As they gradually caught up with the surprisingly speedy elder, he smiled and began his tale.

"All of you are aware of the Goddesses correct?" Linebeck, Mido, and Cremia nodded their heads in confirmation as Marin shook her head.

"All I know was that Linebeck.." She took a moment to gesture to the sailor. "...told me that they flooded Hyrule a long time ago."

"Flooded Hyrule?!" Mido exclaimed as he turned to face the captain. "You liar! Hyrule's just fine! What're you going around scaring people for?" The boy inquired with what appeared to be an attempt at an intimidating stance towards Linebeck.

"I'm just saying what Link said!" Linebeck exclaimed in his defense.

"Link? Now that's rich, is that loser going around playing pranks on people now?" Mido said with a huff.

"Settle down, settle down." The old man intervened in the exchange. "Everything would be explained if you all just quiet down for a bit." As much as the pride of Linebeck and Mido refused to let them back down from any argument, their thirst for answers won out and they quietly awaited the old man's explanation. "There we go." The elder said with a smile. He then turned to talk with Marin as they continued to walk. "Now young one, the Goddesses are the creators of the worlds you all lived in. The Goddess Din gave us the land we walk on, the seas we sail on, and the air we breathe. The Goddess Nayru gave us the law and order that protects us from chaos. The Goddess Farore gave the worlds all of their life forms. I am speaking in layman's terms of course, for much better justice could be done to the Goddesses' efforts in creating your worlds, but time is of the essence." Marin seemed to understand, but one part of the old man's description stuck out to Linebeck.

"Hey old man. What's with the whole _worlds_ plura-" His inquiry was interrupted with a stomp to his foot from Cremia, whose glare told Linebeck to shut up or else. The man was more than willing to comply under the ranch owner's no nonsense gaze. The old man continued on, either not noticing the interaction or not caring enough to comment on it.

"Now these Goddesses are quite the wise ones as you can guess, and took precautions against any and all possible threats to their creation. They cannot intervene themselves of course, but they can give that power to the mortals who will. I believe three of you know such heroes. Their names were all Link, yes?" Linebeck, Marin, and Mido's faces all lit up in recognition at the name, causing the old man to smile. "I see I was correct. And to answer your next question, no. They are not the same person." Linebeck and Mido took on an even more confused expression, but Marin visibly relaxed at the revelation that it wasn't _her_ Link that was in love with that Tetra girl. The old man continued. "They are all reincarnations of Hylia's Hero, each of them the destined bearer of the triforce of courage." The elder's phrasing drew a question from Cremia this time.

"Reincarnations, but then that means…" She started.

"Yes my dear, you all come from different times of the land the Goddesses created...in a way." The old man responded before sighing. "It's a tad difficult to fully explain. You see, a possibility can never NOT exist in time. Meaning that whenever multiple outcomes are possible, a different chain of events occurs to represent those different outcomes. Meaning that multiple timelines occur simultaneously." He turned around to face the four and stopped in his tracks. "You are all from each of the major timelines which the Goddesses pay the most attention to, and I am the guard that they created to watch over them in case anything should happen to try to harm the careful balance that keeps time itself from collapsing." The old man said with a grave expression on his face. "You my boy…" He pointed to Mido. "...are from an era before these timelines split. The _Unified Timeline_ as I have come to call it. You…" He then turned to point at Marin. "...are from an era in which the hero failed to defeat the King of Thieves and the land of Hyrule fell to ruin. I call that one the _Downfall Timeline_. You my dear…" The elder's finger turned to Cremia this time. "...are from an era in which the hero DID defeat the King of Thieves, and was sent back in time to warn the people of Hyrule before the evil ruler could unleash his reign of terror at all. The _Child Timeline_ as it were. And finally…" Linebeck fell under the direction of the finger this time. "...you hail from an era in which the hero was sent back in time, leaving Hyrule wide open for an attack from the vengeful King of Thieves. With no hero to save their world, that timeline's Goddesses flooded Hyrule to seal the evil king away, leading to the Great Sea on which your people sail. The _Adult Timeline_."

The four stood there, stunned at this sudden revelation. The old man paused in his speech, knowing full well that it would take some time for them to come to terms with this. After about 5 minutes worth of silence, Linebeck was the first to speak out.

"I am NOT drunk enough for this….." He said, his face maintaining the shocked expression it had worn for the past few minutes.

"But wait." Marin spoke up this time. "That still doesn't tell us what we're doing here."

"Well, I mentioned earlier in my tirade that the Goddesses prepared for anything and everything that could bring harm to the world they created." The old man responded. "That includes if anything should try to interfere with the timelines themselves. Unfortunately, such an event has occurred. A man of great evil from one of the timelines has used the power of the triforce to become a ruler over time itself in hopes of spreading chaos throughout all that ever is, was, will be, or could have been. He was even aware of the heroes that the Goddesses had used to stop men like him before, and took them in his iron grip before the Goddesses could call upon any of them." He explained somberly. "That, is where you four come in. Four people just unremarkable enough that the evil man's attention was not fully on you, allowing me to slip you away before his grip encased you like everything else. Yes, it was I who brought you here, to the Domain of Time. A bit drab, I know, but I've never been one for decorating." The old man chuckled at his own joke. After seeing that it did little to lighten the mood of the other four, he continued. "The different incarnations of the Goddesses each created special medallions that when brought together, have the ability to overcome the power that this evil man now holds." He then gestured to the four. "With my power, you four have been tasked with bringing these medallions together and stopping the evil which plagues time itself." The old man brought his fingers up as if he were about to snap them. "Now I know you must all have many questions, but time is of the essence. We must begin now." With that, the elder snapped his fingers and in a flash they were all teleported to yet another part of the Domain of Time.

* * *

They all opened their eyes to be greeted with a large, person sized bubble of white light before them. They each took a minute to drink in the sight before they heard the voice of the old man to their right.

"Before you is the time and place in which you will find the first medallion. As much as I hate to ramrod you through this process so quickly, we have little time to waste. It won't be long before the evil man notices the extent of your meddling. Now go!" He stated with the utmost urgency. The response of silent stillness from his audience was…...less than appreciated. "Did you not hear me? Go!" He yelled at them, only to see little change in their forms. With a sigh, he walked behind the catatonic group and proceeded to forcefully shove them into the light. The beginnings of screams were heard as they fell before being silenced by their transportation to the realm to which the light lead.

"May the Goddesses be with you." The old man said with a bow of his head. All he could do now was stand back and pray that the four heeded his words and listened to him.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Are ya confused yet? Yeah? Well me too.**

 **This chapter WAS largely meant to just serve as an excuse for why this whole quest thing is going on in the first place. It was kinda developed as one of those, "I have point A, and I have point C, but now I need a point B to connect them" kinda things. Do tell me if there are any mind bogglingly large plot holes, I'm quite open to revisions on this.**

 **In response to Matthewvp (thanks for the follow/review by the way!) I unfortunately can make no promises when it comes to a schedule for this. Life can be quite hectic, but I'll try to update this as much as I can. I refuse to let this fall into the graveyard of unfinished works on this site.**

 **Let's have us a fun little guessing game shall we? Where do you think our intrepid adventurers (but given the cast I use that term** ** _very_** **loosely) are being sent to first? A little hint, think back to where everything began.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: It's Dangerous to Go Alone**

CRUNCH

"Ow!"

"Augh.."

"Urk!"

"FUCK!"

' _Nope, DEFINITELY not drunk enough for this._ ' Linebeck thought to himself as he lay under the bodies of his newfound comrades. The four's less than elegant entrance into the old man's portal lead to an equally sloppy exit, resulting in them all being deposited onto a forest floor as one large dogpile. It was just his luck that he happened to be at the very bottom of it. "Would you three moblins be so kind as to GET OFF ME?" He shouted angrily at his companions. It took a small bit for them to get over their own disorientation, but they soon got themselves together and stood up.

"What do we do now?" Marin asked nervously.

"Well what do you think? The old man said that we need to save these _timelines_ of his, so let's go!" Mido responded impatiently.

"Wait a minute Mido." Cremia countered. "What we need to do is get our bearings before we do anything else. We can't just go blindly charging into something that, if the old man is to be believed, will be extremely dangerous." She was unwilling to outright admit that she didn't entirely trust the old man and his supposed mission.

"Coward!" Mido accused. "You're just scared. Well you shouldn't be, because you have the great Mido leading you! With me at the head, we'll have this done in no time!" He exclaimed with his hands proudly on his hips.

"Hey, when did we ever say you were the leader?" Marin asked the boy, already taking a vehement disliking to him.

"You didn't. I did. Because I'm the only one here with any leadership experience whatsoever. Therefore I am leader by default." The forest child seemed content with ignoring how well his "leadership" was working for the Kokiri before.

"May the Goddesses help whoever that child is in charge of…" Cremia grumbled under her breath.

"What was that? I demand more respect than that as leader!" Mido shouted at the rancher.

Things quickly devolved into a three way shouting match after that. Mido would constantly proclaim his superiority and how they were wasting time by saying otherwise. Cremia would constantly rebuke Mido's claims and state that they needed to find supplies before any sort of long term traveling could be done. Meanwhile Marin would butt in occasionally to simply protest Mido's arrogance. As this was developing, the fourth member of their party stood in uncharacteristic silence until-

"FOR THE LOVE OF THE GODDESSES ALL OF YOU SHUT UP!" He yelled at the top of his lungs, his sudden outburst silencing the other three. "Look, we're in the middle of a forest, we have no clue when or where we are, we have no rations, we have no weapons, we have no direction, and most importantly I have no booze." He gruffly explained to Mido, emphasizing the last part. "The bumpkin here is right. We need to get our bearings before anything else. I can't imagine the old man would put us too far from civilization, so we should find some first." Cremia was about to object to her new nickname, but Marin quickly put a hand on her shoulder and motioned that that was a conversation for later.

Seeing this as everyone more or less ganging up on him, Mido grew even more defensive. "Well if you're all going to run off with your tails between your legs, fine! I can do this on my own anyway!" The boy crossed his arms in a huff.

Groaning in exasperation, Linebeck took a deep breath before looking up in complete apathy. "Okay, suit yourself kid. Come on Bumpkin and Flower Girl, let's get going." He motioned for Marin and Cremia to follow him as he turned to begin walking down what looked like a path carved through the trees. Seeing that at least someone was willing to be reasonable, Cremia followed. Marin brought up the rear, not wanting to be left alone in the middle of the woods with Mido.

And thus, Mido was left standing there with his arms crossed in the middle of the woods, all alone. Had this been the lost woods, Mido would have felt right at home. But aside from the fact that this was a strange new place, something just felt, off about this place. Sounds of forest life that helped the boy calm down before he now found suffocating in their eeriness. Not a minute later Mido took off in the direction that the other three went.

* * *

"Glad you could join us Brat." Linebeck said bluntly as Mido caught up with the rest of them. An angry grumble was the forest child's only response.

"What's with you and nicknames anyway?" Marin asked the sailor.

The man shrugged. "Eh, they're easier to remember than names. And more fitting too."

"Well I would rather you call me something other than bumpkin." Cremia stated in a tone that made obvious this was an order rather than a request.

"Why?" Linebeck countered. "You live on a farm and obviously spend waaaayyy too much time around barn animals. Trust me, I could do way worse than bumpkin, Bumpkin."

"Wha-how did you know that?" Cremia questioned, never recalling telling any of the others about her farm.

"You can tell by the voice." Linebeck said matter-of-factly. "Farmers always have this certain drawl to their voice."

' _A drawl? I didn't think I had a drawl…._ ' The rancher thought to herself.

"That and ya reek of manure." The captain continued.

"Wha-I DO NOT REEK OF MANURE!" Cremia yelled angrily, causing Linebeck to jolt away in fear. "...do I?" She looked at the other two for their opinions, only to see that Marin had suddenly taken up an intense interest in some grass while Mido avoided eye contact as he practiced his whistling. Cremia sighed before grumbling to herself about how she didn't smell like manure. The walk continued like this for awhile, Marin staring at the ground, Linebeck constantly checking over his shoulder to make sure Cremia wasn't about to tackle him, Cremia mumbling to herself, and Mido whistling a tune. Marin soon broke the awkward silence.

"Well...:" She started. "Since Cremia's background has been shared, I think it's only fair that we tell ours, right?" She asked, gesturing to Mido and Linebeck as she did so. After no outright objections were made, the girl's smile brightened a bit. "Good! I'll start off." She cleared her throat. "My name is Marin and I'm from Koholint Island. I enjoy singing, crane games, walks on the beach, and the sea air. Oh, and Link's company too…" She began to stare off into the distance at her last statement.

"That's still weird to me." Linebeck contemplated. "That when we say _Link_ we're talking about different people I mean."

"Pheh." Mido huffed. "I can't imagine any of them are any better than the loser I know. He only JUST got a fairy!"

"Well you're wrong!" Marin exclaimed, suddenly getting defensive. "My Link is the kindest, sweetest, bravest person there ever was! He is in no way a loser!"

"Jeez, you almost sound like Saria when you say that." Mido said under his breath as the older looking girl glared at him.

"What was that? I didn't quite hear you!" The girl yelled, her rage still boiling over at the boy. A hand on her shoulder from Cremia seemed to at least calm her slightly though.

"Say, how was your Link Old Man?" Mido asked as he turned to face Linebeck.

"Old Man?! Just who do you think you're talking to Brat?!" Linebeck shouted at Mido in outrage at the nickname.

"Soooooooorry! You look like an old fart from where I'm standing." Mido argued.

"I'm 24!" The captain yelled. The faces of disbelief he received from his companions did nothing to soothe his ego.

"You certainly look….older than that." Marin carefully chose her words.

"Yeah, that would put you at just about 4 years older than me and, nope. Not buying it." Cremia said bluntly.

"My age aside…" Linebeck wanted to get away from this conversation as quick as possible. "The Kid was certainly a good treasure dog. He always had a knack for racking up Rupees like nothing else."

"Is that it?" Cremia inquired.

"Yup. I met him, we had ourselves a good adventure, and we parted ways with my pockets much fuller." The sailor said with a smirk.

The inconsistency with what she had seen when she first met Linebeck confused Marin. "You didn't seem so nonchalant about it when we first spoke." She pointed out. "Something about him leaving you to go find New Hyrule?"

Linebeck seemed to trip over himself for a second as he remembered what had happened with Marin. ' _That's right. I almost said...that to her._ ' He thought. "I don't wanna talk about it." He wound up replying in a suddenly stern manner. The other three shrugged at the demeanor shift, but decided that it wasn't a battle worth fighting today.

"So Mido, what makes you so much more special than your _Loser_ Link?" Marin asked the forest boy, the slightest bit of venom seeping into her words.

"Simple." Mido began haughtily. "I got a fairy before he did!"

"And?" Marin inquired in an uncharacteristically deadpan manner.

"And…..um…." Being forced to think about it, Mido couldn't find many other reasons as to just WHY he was so much better than Link. His stumbling didn't go unnoticed.

"Figured." Marin said in the fakest sweet voice she could manage. But before Mido could retort, movement was heard off of the pathway that the four were walking. The sound stopped the group dead in their tracks.

"W-what's that?" Linebeck asked in a shaky voice.

"Let's just keep moving. Probably just an animal." Cremia tried to reassure everyone. Her efforts were for naught however, as an Octorok took this moment to fire a stone at the group. Marin was hit square on the forehead, knocking her to the ground out cold. In a fit of adrenaline, Cremia grabbed the other girl's body and bolted down the pathway, Linebeck and Mido not too far behind as they ran.

"What is that thing?!" Cremia yelled out.

"It's an Octorok!" Mido shouted back over the sounds of their footfalls.

"Yeah!" Linebeck added. "And unless you've got a shield under that dress of yours all we can do is run!" And run they did, dodging stones hurled by the Octorok and its growing list of companions. The group began to outrun the monsters, until the chase screeched to a halt at a tree lined dead end.

"Aw shit!" Linebeck cursed out. "There's gotta be some way outta here!" The monsters were closing in, the sounds of their stubby legs growing ever closer to the group of four.

"The treeline is too thick! Not even I can fit through!" Mido exclaimed after trying to wedge his way into the forest. The end seemed nigh, until a voice was heard coming from one of the trees.

"Under the moss. A door. Quickly!" The voice said hurriedly. Seeing no other course of action, Linebeck tore away the moss at the foot of the talking tree, uncovering a thick wooden door. Barely even thinking, the sea captain flung it open and hopped into the shaft it lead to. Mido was not too far behind, and Cremia, still carrying Marin, was willing to take her chances upon seeing the growing shadows of the legion of Octoroks approaching and jumped right in as well.

* * *

As Marin slowly came to, she took note of her suddenly darker surroundings. Blinking away the remnants of unconsciousness, she propped herself up on her elbows and nearly screamed.

There, sitting by her, was a Moblin. A Moblin who jumped at the sound of the girl's shrill scream. A scream only silenced as a hand clamped down over the young girl's mouth.

"Do you WANT to get us killed Flower Girl?" Linebeck rhetorically asked. "Beasty here is the reason we're not Octorok food about now!"

"I would prefer you not call me that kind sir." The Moblin responded.

"You could show some respect yourself Linebeck." Cremia added as she came over to the comotion. Linebeck responded with a grunt as he released Marin's mouth and proceeded to walk on over to a fire in the center of the room they were in. "Are you okay hun?" Cremia inquired, her attention now on the younger girl.

"Y-yeah." Marin responded while keeping her eyes trained on the Moblin in their presence. "Just a little headache is all."

"You're lucky. Octorok stones are powerful enough to crack jawbones in two. Judging by the bruise it looks to have been a baby though. You should be perfectly fine after some rest." The Moblin said. Marin's wary gaze prompted some more explanation out of him. "I'm sorry if my appearance frightens you. I know we Moblins don't have the best reputation around here, but I'll have you know that not all of us side with that barbaric pig Ganon."

"Then why are you here? In this hole in the ground?" Marin asked.

"It's how we all live around here. Ganon's forces will destroy almost any genuine structure in the Death Mountain region, so those who live here have to live in caves or underground." The Moblin answered. "Oh." The Moblin suddenly jumped. "Where are my manners, care for some soup?" He gestured over to the pot sitting over top of the fire.

"S-sure." Marin said shakily, her distrust beginning to fade.

"Don't worry, it's some great stuff. I honestly wish I could cook something half as good on my ranch." Cremia assured her in an embarrassed manner.

 _SLURP_ "I can vouch for that!" Mido exclaimed, bringing his head up from his soup bowl as he sat next to Linebeck. Marin chuckled at the display, and took the bowl she was offered with a smile.

"Now where were we?" The Moblin asked as his attention turned back to the rest of the group.

"Supplies." Linebeck said simply. "Where can we find them, and or some booze?"

"Oh yes. There should be a trader a little ways to the east. He's situated in a cave along a green rock wall." The Moblin responded. "If his stock hasn't changed since the last time I was there, he should have 8 bombs, some arrows, a shield, a wooden sword, and some alcohol for the fine gentleman." Linebeck's spirits lifted at hearing that he could get some liquid courage for the journey.

"Then it's settled." Mido butted in. "As soon as Marin here is healed up, we make way for the trader."

"I'm afraid it's not so simple. You do have rupees to pay him with, right? This trader specifically can be a bit hardline with his pricing." The Moblin countered. At this, the room went quiet.

"What's a rupee?"

"I have a few from the bushes around Kokiri Village."

"Left my pouch at the ranch."

"Spent it on booze."

The Moblin sighed before reaching into his pocket and pulling out 100 rupees, much to the astonishment of the four before him.

"Where'd you get your hands on that?!" Linebeck exclaimed, incredulous as to how a Moblin got their hands on so much money.

The Moblin winked before replying. "It's a secret to everyone."

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **I'm back! I've had some time as of late (finally got caught up on schoolwork and such) to update this thing. I'm a bit happier with this chapter than the last. Dealt with some more character interactions between the four of 'em. Hopefully I can get the next chapter out before summer though. Heh...**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: To Eagle Dungeon**

GULP GULP GULP

"I'd appreciate it if you'd stop drinking so loudly." Cremia said, glaring at Linebeck as he guzzled a fresh flask of booze.

The man in question brought the container away from his lips with a satisfied sigh. "With what I've gone through today, I'd say I more than deserve this, Bumpkin." He responded.

Cremia glared at him. "You haven't been through anything that we haven't all been through so far, but you don't see us drowning ourselves in booze."

"Flower girl and the Brat are too young for this kind of stuff, and you don't seem the type to drink at all." The seaman replied.

"What makes you say that?" Cremia asked, wary of what Linebeck was implying.

"You seem like you've got a farm hoe shoved reeeeal far up your a-" Linebeck was interrupted when Cremia pinned him against a nearby tree with her upper arm.

"If you do not shut up right now I'm gonna knock you out cold and leave you for the monsters to eat. Got that?" The ranch owner threatened. That was all it took for a flurry of panicked nods to signify Linebeck's immediate cooperation. She then released him and the man stumbled to the forest floor. "You're lucky we even let you get your fix. We could've used those rupees on something actually useful." She stated judgmentally.

"With those prices?" Mido chimed in. "You're kidding me. With what we had left it was a choice between bombs that we can't carry, or those pathetic twigs that shopkeep dared to call arrows." He complained, taking the time to finally vent about their experience with the trader. "I hate the old fart here as much as you do, but at least someone gets use out of this." The angered mumbles of Linebeck didn't phase Mido as he continued on. "Besides, we've got the really useful stuff right here!" He exclaimed as he pulled their newly acquired sword from its sheath on his hip.

"Woah, let's not get too ahead of ourselves here Brat." Linebeck proceeded to dowse whatever excitement Mido was attempting to build up. "We managed to grab a sword…" He motioned towards Mido's new toy. "...and a big shield." He motioned towards said object, currently strapped to Cremia's back. "BOTH of which we need to somehow spread amongst the FOUR of us."

"A-and that pretty blue ring he had." Marin sheepishly piped up from the back of the group as they walked down the forest path aimlessly.

"Yeah, and that blue ring he…" Linebeck paused as a realization hit him. "The blue ring that cost 250 rupees?" He stopped and turned to face Marin. "The one that there was no way to get except…" A wide grin spread across his face as he went to wrap his arm around Marin's shoulder. "Except if a certain Flower Girl stole it from right under the bastard's nose!"

Despite her face turning as red as the hibiscus in her hair upon being called out on it, Marin rummaged around in her dress and brought out the ring in question. "W-well it looked nice, and it's not like we'll likely see him again…" She said.

"And here I thought you were a responsible one." Cremia mumbled under her breath, trying but failing to keep her commentary to herself.

"Hey!" Marin responded indignantly, whipping her head around to face the rancher. "I'm really stressed out, okay? The shopkeep was a jerk anyway, so I don't see the issue here!"

"The ISSUE..." Cremia yelled as she turned to give her full attention to the island girl. "...is that like it or not we are stuck in this forsaken forest…" she took a quick pause to gesture to the seemingly endless woods that surrounded the path the four were walking. "...and I'm the only one here who hasn't resorted to some awful coping mechanism to deal with it!" As Cremia looked back at the target of her sudden rant, she noticed the girl's lower lip quivering.

"What did I do?" Mido asked. "I've been a-"

Not even turning to face him, Cremia shot the kokiri boy down with a quick "You're just always an unlikable brat. Shut up."

Before Mido could offer a retort, Marin responded with an emotional outburst of her own. "Oh! Because we all have to be like you!" She screamed into the other woman's face. "You know, some of us aren't tunnel-visioned assholes…" The shock from hearing the usually timid girl swear was enough to widen her three companions' eyes. "...who can just forget that we have friends back home who probably have no idea where we are, who are probably worried sick about us, who we care about deeply…" The girl's focus shifted away from Cremia as her scathing retort devolved into ramblings. "...who we wanted to do all that we could for and yet were to scared to do anything so we have to steal some stupid ring because maybe it could show him just how much I love him, but I can't even give it to him because I might never even SEE him again!" With this final declaration, Marin broke down into tears where she stood.

Her companions were initially at a loss for what to do. Any ire that Cremia held had been culled by the younger girl's obviously fragile emotional state, while Mido and Linebeck were just inherently bad at handling emotions in general, much less the passionate ones on display.

The sound of sobs was soon cut through by a distant rumbling thunder. Linebeck and Mido turned to the east to find that a powerful thunderstorm seemed to be brewing in the distance. The winds coming from that direction to blow into their face indicated that the storm would soon be over them if they didn't move quickly.

"And you people wondered why I wanted the booze so much…" Linebeck mused to himself more than his companions as he turned back to face them. "I'm more of a seaman myself, but I know that, land or water, if we don't find shelter soon that's gonna be one hell of a storm to be caught under."

* * *

Linebeck's assertion on the nature of the storm unfortunately proved correct. Within mere minutes of shifting their focus to finding shelter, the group found themselves assaulted by battering winds and a torrential downpour. The previously bright midday sky had darkened to a foreboding grey, and worse yet their trek had seemingly taken them in the complete opposite direction of any sort of shelter, landing them in a sparse plain with naught but dead shrubbery bordered by a lake to the group's left.

Struggling to be heard over the winds and rain, Mido finally vocalized the question they had all had on their minds. "Now what?"

"What do you think?" Linebeck shouted in order to be heard over the storm. "We have to go back to the forest path! The trees aren't much, but they're something!"

"Yeah!" Cremia, for perhaps the first time since they had met, agreed with the sailor. "Let's wait this storm out back in the treeline! There's nothing out here!"

"Wait!" Marin yelled out, halting her companions' retreat with the first words she had spoken since her earlier outburst. "I think I see something!" With this, she pointed towards the lake.

"See what?" Mido asked, trying to see what the girl saw while shielding his eyes from the rain and wind.

"It's probably nothing Flower Girl!" Came Linebeck's response. "We have to go back to the forest!"

"It could be shelter!" Said girl cried back.

Cremia, ever the responsible one, was the next to offer her opinion on the islander's potential find. "It's not safe to stay out here much longer!" As if to punctuate her point, a lightning bolt struck down on the other side of the plain, scarily close to where the group had paused. "It's too dangerous!"

Despite the dim lighting, rain, and Marin's back being turned towards the rest of the group, they could all see how she tensed at Cremia's assertion about the danger of their situation. Even more noticeable was how she turned around to finally face her three companions, only to give them a defiant glare before running off in the direction of her supposed find.

"Marin!" Cremia called out before running after her, Linebeck and Mido flanking her on both sides.

* * *

' _Too dangerous.'_ Her blood now unreasonably boiled at the words. None of them knew what she had gone through. Having to stay in the village because it was "too dangerous" to leave it. How it was "too dangerous" for her to join Link on his quest to wake the Windfish. How, because it was "too dangerous", all she could do was see the aftermath of Link's countless adventures across the island and the horrific injuries they left him with. How all she could do was hope and pray for his safety because it was "too dangerous" to actually help him.

In the back of her mind, Marin knew how ridiculous she was being. Charging headfirst into a raging storm because she could barely make something out in the distance would do nothing to help her. But her tipping point had been reached. For once in her mundane life, she would take charge of her situation, no matter how "dangerous" it was.

That, and there was a certain satisfaction to be found in how she had been right.

There, right where she had seen it, lay an obviously man-made bridge across leading into the lake. Even better was the small island it lead to, where Marin could just make out what looked like a doorway carved into a long dead tree. Her defiant anger turned to a beaming joy for a short while, before a familiar scuttling sound drew her attention behind her.

While she had been distracted by her find, an entire legion of blue Octorocks had managed to sneak up behind her.

The girl's face paled as she remembered her last encounter with an Octorock earlier that day. On instinct, she tightly gripped the blue ring she had stolen earlier. Maybe this was it, some sort of karmic justice for what she had done. A cruel punishment devised by whatever beings controlled the cosmos. As the monsters reared back to launch their stones at the poor girl, all she could do was cringe and remember just how much a single shot from a baby had hurt. And then…

THUNK THUNK THUNK THUNK

Marin was flung back by the impact of the projectiles hitting her. But something was off.

For as much as the friendly Moblin had cautioned the group about the dangers of a fully grown Octorock's stone, these had hurt even less than the baby she had been struck by. The assault had still hurt, but it felt more like a stinging punch than the lethal volley it was intended girl opened her eyes in surprise to see a blue light coating her body, almost as if it were shielding her.

"What the-" Before she could fully articulate a response, a war cry swung her attention back towards the group of monsters. One of the Octorocks disappeared into a puff of smoke as a sword slashed down through it. Mido stepped through the cloud of smoke, amateurishly gripping his sword in his two hands. The remaining monsters turned all their attention towards the forest boy, allowing Cremia to charge in from the other side and shield bash another one of the blue creatures into the lake.

Before Marin could wonder where the fourth member of their crew was, a hand snatched her from behind. Startled, she turned around to be greeted by Linebeck's face, angry and sopping wet from the rain.

"What the hell were you thinking?!" He shouted at the girl. His threatening demeanor being undercut ever so slightly by the girlish shriek he then let out as he ducked under a stray projectile from the fight breaking out nearby.

"There!" Marin responded, pointing towards the island across the bridge. "There's a tree there that we can hide out in!"

Linebeck looked over his shoulder at where the girl was pointing, and then back towards the fight that he had made a point of not getting involved in. In spite of their early victories over some of the monsters, it was clear that Cremia and Mido's advantage came largely from the element of surprise. Without that, it just Mido clumsily windmilling with his sword as Cremia struggled to hold her shield against the powerful onslaught of the Octorocks. With this weather, and the odds stacked wholly against them, Linebeck grit his teeth and yelled out to the two fighters.

"Flower Girl found something!" He shouted over the storm. "Get your asses over here!" He didn't even wait to see if they had heard him before letting go of Marin, turning tail, and rushing across the bridge as fast as he could. The island girl was a bit more wary of her companions, and chose to at least make sure the other two were following before she too began running across the bridge in order to escape the monsters. As she followed Linebeck through the rain and into the entrance of the hollowed out tree, only one cynical thought managed to worm its way into her head.

' _Guess it was too dangerous after all…'_

* * *

"Woah."

Cremia couldn't help but silently agree with Mido's awe as they took in their new surroundings. It turned out that the tree Marin had found had been a much more interesting find than any of them would have guessed. What had initially looked to be a hut sized alcove in a tree for the group to hide from the storm in, was instead merely an entrance to an entire underground cavern beneath the lake.

"Look at this." Mido said, running his hands along the dimly lit walls of the cavern. "It's not natural. Stonework of some kind." His fingers caressed the crevices where stones were fused together with ancient mortar. "Like a temple." The boy said, being reminded of what he had seen of the Forest Temple hidden within the Lost Woods.

Cremia begged to differ however, looking around to see the room filled with statues of terrifying monster visages, the dim lighting that seemed to come from nowhere, yet bathed the room in an ominous blue hue nonetheless, and the remnants of rusted chains scattered about. "Or a dungeon." was her only response.

"Well" came a voice from behind one of the statues. For a quick moment, the pair of adventurers feared that the horrible statues would prove to be just another legion of monsters waiting to end their lives, but that fear proved unfounded as their flask sporting ally walked out from behind the statue. "Look who decided to join." He said with a sardonic smirk.

"Well unlike you, SOME of us were fighting monsters so that YOU could run off like a coward." Mido spat at the sailor.

Linebeck's smirk sunk into an indignant frown at the retort. "Whatever." He snarled at the two, not even bothering to justify why he didn't fight alongside them. "I've got Flower Girl starting a fire in the next room over." He stated before turning to lead them to where their fourth companion was.

"Wait…" Mido started, looking around to once again take in the vastness of the room they were currently standing in. "...there are MORE rooms like this?" He asked incredulously, his surprised voice echoing off the walls.

* * *

Within a few minutes, the group found themselves huddled around a campfire of Marin's making. The long day proved to be more tiring than they had assumed, and both Mido and Marin quickly fell asleep on the floor of the cavern. Cremia too looked to be laying on her side, but was staring into the makeshift fire pit with a look that Linebeck just couldn't place. The sailor meanwhile, took this time to finally sit back and relax a bit. Choosing to relish in the first true moments of peace and quiet since he had been thrust on this adventure.

Said peace and quiet was interrupted by a voice.

"This whole medallion business.." Linebeck turned to find Cremia sitting up and sullenly poking their campfire with a stick before turning her eyes up to look at him. "Do you really think it's real?"

Linebeck took a quick sip of his flask before offering his immaculately articulated response. "Yep."

Seemingly taken aback by his quick comeback, Cremia weakly tried to argue her skepticism. "It's just, I'm just a farmer." She explained. "And this whole medallion thing, with timelines, and warlords, and world ending magic...it's right out of a fairytale."

"I suppose it CAN feel that way if you aren't used to it." Linebeck mused as he thought of his early experiences when adventuring with his timeline's Link. But at the memory of feeling his life force drained from his body as he was possessed by Bellum, Linebeck tensed. "But trust me…" He managed to get out after unclenching his teeth. "...I've experienced far...weirder...things than this."

The clearly awkward way he phrased his statement, combined with the almost automatic way in which Linebeck brought the flask to his lips after he said it tipped Cremia off to the fact that the sailor's experiences were not ones to be taken lightly. "Well if it IS real, then we can't get distracted from finding these medallions." She tilted her head to subtly indicate the man's flask. "By anything."

Linebeck narrowed his eyes at the obvious implication. "That includes starting needless arguments Bumpkin." He shot back, referencing her earlier outburst. To his surprise, the usually stubborn ranch owner only let out a soft sigh as she turned her eyes towards the sleeping younger girl.

"She's wrong you know. I've been constantly thinking about the family I have back home." For a fraction of a millisecond, Cremia saw Romani laying down by the campfire instead of the island girl. "More than she could even begin to imagine."

Linebeck could tell that there was more to the almost wistful look the woman gave to the sleeping girl than Cremia wanted to let on, and that for the sake of their impromptu quest it would be better for him to try and get it out into the open.

But Linebeck wasn't in the mood to deal with emotions right now.

"Just get some sleep Bumpkin. We can all talk it out in the morning." The sailor said before taking yet another sip of booze. Before Cremia could even try to respond, he had tucked his liquid courage away and laid down on the ground as if to signify the end of any conversation the farmer may have wanted.

Seeing her companions already laying down, Cremia gave in and lowered herself to the cold cavern floor, allowing sleep to finally overtake her.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Well, more than a year, one broken computer, and a WHOLE lot of procrastination later I have returned to this story. I warned that an update schedule was pretty much non-existent for this thing, and I was woefully very right in that regard. But I stand by my promise that one day this fever dream of an adventure of mine will see its conclusion. Hopefully the time away hasn't radically altered how I right the characters too much, but let me know what you think in the reviews!**


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